Mr. Sakurai Presents (also known as Battling With... in Europe and Oceania) is a series of video presentations hosted by Masahiro Sakurai that serve as a way to properly reveal the contents of each individual Challenger Pack in the Fighters Pass for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as other DLC contents and game updates.
The series is similar to previous Smash Bros.-focused Nintendo Directs, but are generally more unscripted and on a lower budget. It is typically filmed in a small studio space separate from the ones used in Bandai Namco and are recorded by the same film crew that work on GameCenter CX, a popular video game variety television series in Japan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, three of the presentations were filmed in Sakurai's home, with the camera set up by himself.
Segments[]
- Introduction - The videos usually open with Masahiro Sakurai sharing some introductory words; these often consist of greeting the audience, providing behind-the-scenes information regarding the filming, and other lighthearted banter.
- "What is <series name>?" - Sakurai will briefly inform viewers on the history of the game series the fighter is from. There have been exceptions to this; for Terry, he also divulged on the history of SNK's Neo Geo systems before talking about the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters games, while the segment was entirely forgoed in Steve and Sephiroth's presentations (it was replaced with a character background explanation for the latter).
- Fighter overview - What can be considered the central segment of the series, it is here where Sakurai will go into detail about the fighter's complete moveset.
- Stage overview - In this segment, Sakurai explains the stage that comes packaged with the fighter. Other than background details, he may also show off parts of the stage not often seen during regular play, such as the inside of the Villagers' homes in Minecraft World.
- In both Banjo & Kazooie and Terry's presentations, a complementary segment dedicated to Cameos was added to show off their stages' background character appearances.
- "Let's see them in action!" / "Trying out <fighter>" (Europe and Oceania) - Sakurai will demonstrate the fighter in a regular match, though this can vary. For example, in Terry and Sephiroth's presentations, he played through their entire Classic Mode routes, while for Byleth, Pyra/Mythra and Kazuya, he played a Squad Strike match with them.
- "Song Collection" / "Song List" - Sakurai shows off the Music that comes packaged with the fighter and stage, in which the complete tracklist will be viewed on-screen.
- Mii Fighter Costumes - A trailer showing off the new Mii Fighter costumes will play. Afterwards, Sakurai will mention any other additional information or minor details regarding a specific costume.
- amiibo - Upcoming amiibo will be presented, as well as sharing their release dates and pricing.
- Version <update number> - Details on the next update are show off here, such as additional modes or any quality-of-life changes.
- Closing remarks - Much like the intro, Sakurai will share further behind-the-scenes information regarding development or the filming of the video, before saying farewell to the audience.
Videos[]
New Content Approaching (Joker)[]
- Unofficial first episode of the series
- Video Release - April 16, 2019
Mr. Sakurai Presents "Hero"[]
- Also known as "A Heroic Presentation" in Europe and Oceania
- First proper episode of the series
- Video Release - July 30, 2019
Mr. Sakurai Presents "Banjo & Kazooie"[]
- Video Release - September 4, 2019 (immediately following a Nintendo Direct)
Mr. Sakurai Presents "Terry Bogard"[]
- Video Release - November 4, 2019
Mr. Sakurai Presents "Byleth"[]
- Originally announced as "Mr. Sakurai Presents ???"
- Video Release - January 16, 2020
Mr. Sakurai Presents "Min Min"[]
- Originally announced as "Mr. Sakurai Presents an ARMS Fighter"
- Video Release - June 22, 2020
Mr. Sakurai Presents "Steve & Alex"[]
- Video Release - October 3, 2020
Mr. Sakurai Presents "Sephiroth"[]
- Video Release - December 17, 2020
Mr. Sakurai Presents "Pyra/Mythra"[]
- Video Release - March 4, 2021
Mr. Sakurai Presents "Kazuya"[]
- Video Release - June 28, 2021
Battling with Sora[]
- Originally announced as "The Final Mr. Sakurai Presents for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate"
- Video Release - October 5, 2021
Trivia[]
- Joker's presentation is considered to be an unofficial episode due to him being part of the Fighters Pass, despite its format being completely different from the rest of the series.
- The Mii Fighter Costumes trailer in Hero's presentation is the only one to use Ultimate-original music. This could be due to licensing issues with series composer Koichi Sugiyama, who owned the rights to the Dragon Quest series' soundtracks prior to his death on October 7, 2021.
- Banjo & Kazooie's presentation is the only one to feature a (at the time) future character, being Terry.
- During Banjo & Kazooie's presentation, Masahiro Sakurai mentions that the only way to play the Banjo-Kazooie games are through Rare Replay on the Xbox One. This then caused the term "Xbox One" to trend amongst Japanese players on Twitter, something that hadn't been done before due to the Xbox family of systems' notoriously poor performance in the country.
- Terry's presentation is the longest, at 49 minutes.
- After showcasing the cameos in King of Fighters Stadium during Terry's presentation, Sakurai notes the absence of popular Fatal Fury character Mai Shiranui by humorously remarking that this was because Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was "for good boys and girls of many ages" (as she wears a very revealing outfit). This joke is only mentioned in the translated version of the presentation, as in the original Japanese video he states her omission was meant to comply with the game's A rating by the CERO board.
- Byleth and Sora's presentations are the only ones to also serve as their reveal announcement, as the other characters were announced in separate events prior to their presentations. This is mainly due to being the final characters in Volume 1 and 2, respectively.
- The Mii Fighter Costume trailers in Byleth, Min Min, Steve, Kazuya, and Sora's presentations oddly list Altaïr, Vault Boy, Travis, the Dragonborn, Dante, and Doom Slayer's games of origin as simply their names rather than the actual game titles. It is widely believed to be because of the ESRB's guidelines regarding the promotion of M-rated games on other games that are ratings below it.
- Strangely, this seems to have extended to the European versions of Kazuya and Sora's presentations, as the Dragonborn, Dante, and Doom Slayer's names were also shown there instead of their respective game titles.
- All of the characters' presentations from Fighters Pass Volume 2 do not feature English translated voiceover in the North American uploads. Subtitles are shown on-screen instead, much like the international uploads prior.
- Though at first assumed to be because of restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, Sakurai's usual English voiceover can be heard in the 2021 E3 Direct, which means it may have been a proper decision instead of unavailability.
- Though not translated in the English subtitles, during Min Min's presentation Sakurai says "密です" ("It is dense" or "Too close") in a reference to Social Distancing, a phrase that became a meme at the time in Japan after being famously uttered by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
- Portions of Steve's presentation were shown during Minecraft Live 2020, which the full video premiered shortly prior.
- The premier date of Sephiroth's presentation coincided with the anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise's debut, being December 18, 1987.
- Sephiroth, Kazuya, and Sora's presentations are the only ones out of the characters in Fighters Pass Volume 2 to be filmed in the regular office space.
- Sephiroth's presentation is the only one to not make any reference to amiibo whatsoever.
- Kazuya's presentation was announced the longest in advance, being 13 days prior to the premier. Pyra/Mythra have the second-longest, at 8 days.
- Interestingly, Sora's presentation uses the European title in all regions, as opposed to the usual "Mr. Sakurai Presents" in the North American uploads.
- During the Mii Fighter Costumes segment in Sora's presentation, Sakurai mentions how he has heard that the original DOOM can run on any computer, referencing a meme where programmers try to insert the game in as many devices as possible due to its original source code having been released officially.
- Sora's presentation is the only one to feature an announcement in regards to something outside of Ultimate, as it was revealed that all of the previous Kingdom Hearts games would be ported onto the Nintendo Switch at a later date.
- Sakurai has referenced a few anime works during certain presentations:
- In Hero's presentation, he notes that Erdrick's voice actor, Nobuyuki Hiyama, can also be recognized as Guy Shishioh from The King of Braves GaoGaiGar.
- In Min Min's presentation, he mentions that looking up "Spring Man" in Japan may bring up results showing "a certain enemy from a certain manga"; this is referring to the character Springman from the series Kinnikuman, who coincidentally was defeated by a character named Ramenman.
- Also in Min Min's presentation, when talking about the new voice lines recorded by Ryō Horikawa (Captain Falcon's voice actor) for her trailer, he also notes his other most well known role, being Vegeta from Dragon Ball.